Credit Cards That Earn American Express Membership Rewards Points

American Express Membership Rewards is a points currency similar to Chase Ultimate Rewards. Points are worth $0.01 for non-travel redemptions, but are most valuable when redeemed for travel. Like with Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express has a number of hotel and airline partners to which you can transfer points. The flexibility of these points is what makes them so revered. Here’s a list of credit cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards points.

American Express Membership Rewards Card Overview

There are 7 personal and 4 business cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards. Of these 11, only the Amex EveryDay, Amex EveryDay Preferred, the Mercedes-Benz card, and the new Blue Business Plus Card are credit cards; the rest of the cards are charge cards.

Regardless of the number of cards you have, all of your points are saved under a shared Membership Rewards account. In order to keep your points active, you must always have at least one Membership Rewards-earning card open.

The targeted offer that everybody hopes to get!

Unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards, all cards have the ability to transfer points to travel partners. If you do not want to pay an annual fee but want to maintain your points balance, you should open the Amex EveryDay credit card.

Since you can only get the bonus on American Express cards once per lifetime, I recommend getting all of the cards that offer a decent sign-up bonus at some point. You can prioritize what card to get based on the spending requirement, annual fee, and most importantly, the sign-up offer. If you haven’t had an American Express card yet, you may receive a targeted offer in the mail. These are generally the best possible offers. American Express is also known for their “incognito offers” so try clearing your cookies and opening an incognito browser window to see if you can pull up a better offer. Here are some past incognito offers to give you a sense of how much better the offer can be than what Amex publicly advertises.

Personal Cards

Platinum Card

The Platinum Card is American Express’s luxury travel card. For a $550 annual fee, you’ll receive the following benefits:

This recent change is helping the Amex Platinum compete with the Chase Sapphire Reserve

You can also add up to three authorized users for $175. These authorized users get access to Centurion Lounges, Delta SkyClubs, Priority Pass lounges, a TSA Precheck or Global Entry fee credit, Hilton and Starwood Gold status, and access to Boingo hotspots. You can also add up to 99 Gold Card authorized users for free.

The Platinum card earns 5x Membership Rewards points on flights purchased directly from the airline and hotels booked on amextravel.com. All other purchases earn 1 point per dollar spent.

The current public offer is 60,000 Membership Rewards points after making $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.

Premier Rewards Gold Card

I recently snagged this increased sign-up bonus through an incognito offer!

The Premier Rewards Gold card has no annual fee for the first year, which is nice for getting the sign-up bonus, but it increases to $195 after that. The main benefit of this card is the $100 annual airline fee credit.

You can earn 3x Membership Rewards points for airfare purchased directly from the airline, 2x points at restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets, and 1x points on all other purchases.

The current public offer is 25,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months.

Gold Card

The Gold Card is kind of useless. It has no annual fee for the first year but it increases to $160 after that. There is no public sign-up bonus for this card but sometimes has one through incognito offers. You can earn 2x Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with the airline and at restaurants.

If you have the Amex Platinum, you can add up to 99 Gold Card authorized users for no additional cost. The main benefit of this is to earn 2x points at restaurants.

Other than being an Amex Platinum authorized user, if you have this card, please comment with the reasoning. I’m genuinely curious.

As of June 2017, the Gold Card is no longer accepting new applicants.

Green Card

The iconic Green Card is somewhat obsolete. Only apply if you can get a sign-up bonus.

The Green Card is also kind of useless. It doesn’t have a public sign-up bonus but you may get a 25,000 Membership Rewards points offer through the incognito method. This card has a $95 annual fee that’s waived the first year. You can earn 2x points on travel booked through amextravel.com. Other than that, this card has very little going for it.

Amex EveryDay Credit Card

The Amex EveryDay credit card is the only Membership Rewards card with no annual fee. This is the best one to hold onto to keep your Membership Rewards points active. You’ll earn 2x points at supermarkets and 20% more points if you use your card 20 or more times in a billing period.

The public offer is 10,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.

Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card

If you make 30 transactions, you’ll earn 4.5x points at supermarkets, 3x points at gas stations, and 1.5x points on everything else!

The Amex EveryDay Preferred is a beefed up version of the EveryDay credit card. For an annual fee of $95, you’ll get 3x points at supermarkets, 2x points at gas stations, and 50% more points if you use your card 30 or more times in a billing period.

The public offer is 15,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.

Mercedes-Benz Credit Card

You don’t hear too much about the Mercedes-Benz credit card. While there is a 10,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus, the $95 annual fee is not waived the first year.

This card only really makes sense if you’re a big Mercedes fan. You’ll get 5x points on select Mercedes-Benz purchases, a $500 annual certificate after you charge $5,000 on the card which is good toward a future Mercedes-Benz purchase or lease, and a $50 certificate upon card renewal which is good toward Mercedes-Benz accessories. If you have a lease through Mercedes-Benz Financial Service, they’ll waive up to 1,000 excess miles at the end of your lease.

The Platinum card earns 5x Membership Rewards points on flights purchased directly from the airline and hotels booked on amextravel.com. The main thing that sets this card apart from the personal Platinum card is the 50% points rebate for airfare. You can get the rebate on first and business class tickets on all airlines or any fare class with your selected qualifying airline.

The current public offer is 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 and an extra 25,000 points after spending an additional $10,000 in the first 3 months. This spending requirement is not for the faint of heart.

Business Gold Rewards Card

The Business Gold Rewards card has a $175 annual fee that’s waived the first year. With this card, you’ll earn 3x points on one of the following categories of your choice:

Airfare purchased directly from the airline

Advertising in select media

Gas stations

Shipping

Computer hardware, software, and cloud computing purchases

You’ll earn 2x points on the four categories you didn’t select.

The public offer is 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months.

Business Green Rewards Card

The Business Green card has a $95 annual fee that’s waived the first year. Like the personal card, the only main benefit is 2x points on travel booked through amextravel.com. It also has a tiny sign-up bonus of 5,000 Membership Rewards points after your first purchase. This card kind of sucks so it shouldn’t really even be on your list if you just want to earn Membership Rewards points.

Blue Business Plus Card

No reviews yet…that’s how new this card is!

The Blue Business Plus card is brand spanking new. While it doesn’t have a sign-up bonus, this no annual fee card offers 2x Membership Rewards points on the first $50,000 spent each year and 1x points after that. This is officially the highest Membership Rewards-earning card for everyday spending.

3x points on one of the following categories: airfare purchased directly from the airline, advertising, gas stations, shipping, or computer hardware/software; 2x points on the other 4 categories; 1x points on all other purchases